


Synthesis

by astral_alien8



Series: Enemy of My Enemy [2]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Blackmail, M/M, Masturbation, Oral Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-05
Updated: 2013-07-09
Packaged: 2017-12-17 18:02:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/870371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astral_alien8/pseuds/astral_alien8
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is Part Two to "Retribution" and really does not necessarily make sense by itself.</p><p>McCoy learns that Jim has a sudden dire collapse in his health, and it just may be due to something he's done wrong. He now has to seek out the enemy's help, but to make that work, he has to make a deal with the devil himself.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>DISCLAIMER: I do not own Star Trek or anything about it, they are owned by CBS/Paramount.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“OH GOD HE’S CRASHING!” A panicked yell rang out from the young Captain’s room, as a Registered Nurse signaled for the doctor on call to respond immediately. He began emergency procedures, attempting to stabilize the young patient’s failing stats, while waiting on the physician to arrive. 

After several minutes of terror and a lot of intervention later, the team managed to get Jim Kirk stable and resting once again. The doctor looked absolutely dumbstruck as he looked around the smallish room at his team. “We…need to get a full panel done on him STAT. Get blood and urine samples and run them to the lab and report to me as soon as you get word back. This should not have occurred!” He looked back at the sleeping form, frail and once again in danger for his life. What was going on? It looked like just days ago he was progressing along nicely, so why was his condition suddenly taking a nose dive? “….Call Doctor McCoy immediately and inform him of what just happened. As the doctor responsible for having managed to treat and stabilize him in the first place after the events on the Enterprise, he needs to know what happened, in case this is something relating to whatever his treatment was.” His charge nurse gave a quick nod, and rushed out of the room to make the call. Whatever was going on, it was dire.

************************************

A lamp dimly lit the desk that held the pile of PADDs containing the mountains of files and caseloads that still had to be reviewed. A sleeping form was plastered across a few of the data machines, snoring mildly, as clearly he was burning the midnight oil on these cases. He had quite apparently gotten too wrapped up in his work to realize he was drifting in and out, and just bottomed out right there at his desk. And, of course, right as he had finally gotten into that nice, deep, restful sleep of the dead, he was awoken sharply by a loud and rude chirping of his comm device. It didn’t get to him right away, but after about the fourth alarm, he jumped up, just about out of his skin, and fumbled around his chaotic pile of work to grab the little device.

Finally with the small tool in his grasp, he cleared his throat, and flipped it open, granting permission for the channel to stream. “Yeah, McCoy here, whaddya want?” He grumped at the person on the other end, still half asleep.

His ears were met with the slightly panicked sound of the young male nurse on the other end. “Sorry to wake you, doctor, I assure you I wouldn’t if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. Doctor Kursit told me to contact you immediately in reference to your patient Captain James Tiberius Kirk.”

McCoy’s eyes went wide and he felt his heart skip. This couldn’t possibly be good, but what the hell could’ve gone wrong now? The guy hadn’t been there that long, and something was already going awry again? Less than a week in and he regains consciousness to be attacked by Harrison, now a few days later he’s getting a distress call AGAIN? What now? This kid was like a magnet for crises! Before the nurse could explain, McCoy had asked the question he was about to answer; “Jim?! What in the hell happened to him this time?!”

The nurse was silent for a second, then his voice got low, almost fearful. “He…coded for a minute, sir. The cause is unknown as of right now, but we took blood and urine samples and sent them off to be tested. We will be able to tell you better when those come back, but as he was your patient aboard the Enterprise, you know best what his condition is, and how you treated it. You are the one that really needs to take the lead on this case, sir.”

McCoy felt himself deflating exponentially at this realization. Something was going wrong with Jim’s condition, and they had no idea what it was….this was not good. Not at all. He sat in silence for a minute, and spoke feeling the gravity of the situation settling on him, “I’ll be in there in about an hour or so. Have those lab results ready as soon as you can, I need to look over ‘em.” He had a sinking feeling it may have been a resurgence of the radiation poisoning, but he couldn’t be certain. There really was no telling. Then again, it could even be a reaction due to the blood transfusion. The kid was sensitive to a lot of things, and his body had tried to reject the blood several times when they did it. When he had started to regain his consciousness, they had to drug him up with anti-rejection medications, much like transplant patients, he recalled. Jim, of course, had reacted to those medications as well. After that fiasco, he seemed to be somewhat doing well though…and again, the one and only time they let him get up out of bed, or more appropriately, he allowed HIMSELF to get up out of bed, he did have that black out syndrome, and his stats had fallen dramatically for a minute or so then as well. That was a bad sign, but they didn’t see any signs of anything else at the time. Boy was he regretting not looking into that farther now….

He shook his head, trying to clear out the thoughts. If he started in with the ‘what ifs’ and the ‘if onlys’ he would find himself in the worst position a doctor could manage – guilt. That was a killer, and oftentimes, a career ender. He had seen many good doctors lose their shit over a patient death, or a loss of some form of function that they could simply not forgive themselves for. Doctors were, after all, only human. They did, unfortunately, make mistakes, and occasionally miss something. This was never done on purpose, but if something happened, and you did your best to save them, and patient safety came as top priority, then you had to learn your lesson, forgive yourself, and move on. Death was sadly, a part of the medical field. Jim, however, was a horse of another color. He was a friend he held very near and dear to his heart, and he couldn’t bear the thought of losing him. There had to be some way to save him. There just HAD to!

He got up from his desk, looked over his mountain of work, and heaved a heavy sigh. He would have to tend to that another day. He switched off the light, and went to grab his uniform and a shower. He had to get himself somewhat presentable so he could report to duty several hours earlier than his shift was actually scheduled to begin. Of course, that was also part of being a doctor. You do what you have to for the sake of your patient. He strode over to the shower and prepared the settings to his liking. He then got himself dressed, put on his shoes, and headed out of his door, making straight for the hospital that his temporary Starfleet apartment was connected to. 

When he finally arrived at the hospital, he took a direct route straight to the unit he knew housed his friend. He stopped at the unit station in the center, and greeted the staff there, although he was feeling the fatigue and most definitely the stress that was settling on his shoulders. The charge nurse saw it, and offered him a shaky smile, handing him the file PADD containing Jim’s information. McCoy raised his eyebrows at it, stifling a sigh. He knew the poor guy was just as distressed about the situation, and didn’t want to cause him any more undue grief either. He gave a weak attempt at returning the smile, and turned on his heels, headed for his patient’s room. 

Once he arrived at the door, he paused for a moment, taking in a sharp breath to steady himself. He took one step forward and the door slid open with a muffled hiss, allowing him inside. The lights were low, so he called them up enough to be able to properly evaluate his patient. He looked pale, and so delicate as he lay there asleep in his bed. It felt like his heart was breaking as he looked upon his friend in this state. It was clear Jim was close to death, and the thought of seeing him that way again tugged at his heart strings and just broke something inside of him in ways that were immeasurable. 

The palms of his hands came to rest against the railings of Jim’s bed, and he felt his face contort in an emotionally pained expression. He wanted to pull him back from the brink, but it was a waiting game until the results came back from the lab. He, as if by instinct, reached a hand down to his friend, patting him on the arm gently. “Jim…” He began lowly, gently, pain clearly seeping into his voice as he attempted to reign in his emotions. “You can’t give up, y’know…ya gotta fight this, ya gotta! You came too far to give up now!” He felt his grip on his friend’s arm tighten, and he checked his emotions again, feeling them beginning to spill over. This was more painful than he thought. “I…I just can’t stand the thought of losin’ you again.” He paused, knowing he wasn’t the only one. “It ain’t just me either. Spock needs ya, hell we all do. You’re the leader we all came to love an’ respect this past year or so. We been through a lot together, especially you and I…” He thought back over the academy days, and the first time they met on the shuttle and he felt himself grin, a small chuckle escaping. “Boy do we have a history, man. You gotta pull through! And I’m not givin’ up on you, Damnit so you better not either!” He gave his friend a light slap on the arm, and looked back up at his readout above his bed. It was still stable, but he was just barely there. He sighed heavily, not sure if his friend could fully hear him or not. 

A moment later he heard a ping from the PADD in his hand, and he looked down at it to check the memo it received. It was a stream from the lab! He fumbled with the device, anticipation causing him to lose control over himself for a moment. Finally he managed to reign himself in, and he got the memo open. It was the reports from his two lab tests. The urine sample was scanned over first, but what it showed was not anything alarming. The results from it were not a problem, the blood test…when he opened that file and saw what it held, he felt the color drain from his face. He stumbled backwards, grasping clumsily behind himself for the chair he knew was in the room. He finally found it, falling unceremoniously into it, a completely dumbstruck look strewn across his now stark white face. He couldn’t believe it, and it was something that chilled him down to his bones. This was exactly what he did NOT want to see…

Running frantically to the Admiral’s office that presided over the medical facilities, McCoy forced his way past the secretary who was trying with all her might to stop him. It was now about 6:00 AM, and it was a decent enough hour to go bursting into a big wig’s office. The frantic lady was trying to pull him back, giving him clearly distressed and annoyed ‘Sir, sir please, you cannot go in there without an appointment!’ but he was simply not hearing a word of it. He threw open the doors, the lady hanging onto him, reluctantly in tow. “Sir! I need a word with ya. It’s important, an’ it’s confidential, so if ya don’ mind, can ya call off this kindly secretary of yours?” He gestured to the woman firmly latched to his arm, attempting to drag him from the office.

The Admiral looked from the frantic and apologetic young secretary and back at the stone-faced doctor, and subbed the bridge of his nose, sighing exasperatedly. “Let him go, Ensign, I got it from here.” Once the young woman shot the doctor a disapproving look and left, the Admiral looked back toward the doctor and motioned hi inside. “Well that was some display. So now that you have my attention, what can I help you with that’s so damn important that you think it’s your God-given RIGHT to go against the regulations that every OTHER member of Starfleet has to follow?” He gave the disciplinary sort of look a parent may give a child that has acted out of turn, but McCoy was never one that was particularly good with remembering his place. He did, however, mind his manners enough to keep himself from the brig for insubordination.

“Well, it’s somethin’ of a somewhat classified nature, y’see….it pertains to what happened on the Enterprise…between us and….Harrison….” He gave a serious note to his words when he spoke, hinting at the seriousness of the topic he was about to bring up. The Admiral clearly took the hint, leaning in closer and motioning him to continue. “Now. As you know, Captain Kirk had an incident aboard the ship involving the Warp Core. I treated him, but my methods were unorthodox, and I cannot afford to have them gettin’ leaked all over damn Starfleet, much less beyond. That’s why I came to you. I know you will understand and keep this under wraps…You have connections to Section 31, correct?” He looked to the Admiral. He was deadly serious with the sort of piercing look he was giving the doctor at this last question. He was a retired member of that organization, and he never spoke of it. McCoy knew this, and was counting on it as part of his leverage. “It’s alright, sir! That’s why I need YOU in particular. See, this treatment involved…Harrison.” 

The Admiral lifted an eyebrow, clearly interested but not certain where this was going. “Involved Harrison how, doctor?” 

McCoy was a little more reluctant as he was getting closer to the part of the story involving the use of Harrison, but he knew this was vital. He absolutely HAD to continue. Jim’s life depended on it! He swallowed, meeting the Admiral’s gaze before speaking again. “You…are aware of exactly WHO Harrison is, right?” 

The Admiral narrowed his eyes, almost as if he were insulted. He gave one nod. “The ‘90’s Augment tyrant of Asia, Khan Noonien Singh. I’m well aware of the mess Admiral Marcus got us into by waking that monster without knowing the first IOTA of what it was he was getting himself involved with…” 

Great. He was clearly displeased with the notion of using the guy in the first place. This could prove complicated. He bit back a sigh of frustration, but proceeded anyway. “Well at least I don’ have to explain that…anyway, yeah. Khan has some absolutely fascinating regenerative and recuperative properties, and I had been doing some studies on his blood to decipher just what was different about this guy that would allow that sorta medical marvel.” He paused again, gauging the reactions of the Admiral. Intently listening still, that was good, no signs of annoyance, just intrigue, also good. He continued. “Anyway, I found that it also can be used when injected into another being, as a booster for the other being’s body, sorta like jump-starting a car. It kicks the body into overdrive, prompting it to heal itself, or in the case of Jim, also flushing out the toxins present in his system.” Now he saw a sort of unusual look on the Admiral’s face, and before he got off another word, he raised his hand to silence him from speaking.

“Are you really about to tell me…..what I think you are?” He looked pretty displeased. Oh this may not go too good….”Please tell me you didn’t really inject Khan’s blood into Jim’s body to counter the radiation poisoning....Doctor….You didn’t….” His eyes narrowed at the realization that it was true. He saw the guilt all over McCoy’s face and he slammed his fist down on the table, turning away for a moment, seething silently. After a few moments he spoke again. “And what happened afterward?”

McCoy was hesitant for a moment but answered as close to neutrally as he could. “Well, he rejected the transfusion, so we put ‘im on anti-rejection medication. He reacted to that, so we neutralized the reaction, and kept ‘im sedate while it settled. After a couple of days, he was his same ol’ sarcastic flirty self, an’ we thought nothin’ of it.” He averted his eyes slightly, and finished off the statement. “Then…I got the call that he coded. He’s havin’ some kinda complication, and I just got the results back from the lab. Theres some kinda issue with the blood transfusion, an’ it ain’t takin’ well. He’s getting’ sick again, and the body’s not fightin’ it like it should. I…need to talk to Khan. He-“ 

He was cut off by the Admiral again. “You WHAT?! Why?!”

McCoy stifled yet another sigh. “Sir, he’s healed disease with his blood before, I wanna know how he did it. I jus’ wanna pick ‘is brain an’ see if he can tell me how to save Jim’s life. Please sir, it’s all I’m askin’…”

The Admiral rubbed the bridge of his nose again and heaved a heavy sigh. He pondered this for a moment before looking back at the doctor seated across from him. “…..fine. On one condition.” 

McCoy’s eyes brightened, and he looked the Admiral right in the eye. “Name it.”

“You have to keep me updated on what you learn, and you must give me copies of your medical notes. I want to know what you know about this monster.” He stamped and signed several different forms and handed them over to McCoy and sent him out of his office. McCoy stared at the paperwork in almost disbelief. This was either really good…or really bad….either way, he’d have to find out later, because right now, he had to get to Khan…


	2. Chapter 2

Khan had foolishly handed himself over to his enemy's hands, and it looked more and more like he had nothing to show for it. Sure, his crew was probably still alive, but even that he couldn't guarantee. He felt a scowl making itself known on his features as this thought took root in his mind. Anything could go wrong. Those tubes were a couple of centuries old, and there was no telling if more of them would be malfunctioning soon as well. This was more than a little bit distressing, and a whole lot more of a piss-off.

He got up from his reclined position on the bed, and began pacing aggravatedly in the cell they were holding him in. He was growing impatient with the idea of following Kirk's advice of being a 'good boy' and playing by the rules. It would suit his purposes far better to simply go with a jailbreak and attempt to revive his crew incognito and escape. He shook his head in frustration, recognizing that as a highly improbable scenario, considering that for one, they would know he broke out and would launch a manhunt, which, undoubtedly, would include the location of his crew, not to mention it took a fair amount of time to actually revive any person from cryo stasis. These two conditions made his reckless plan a fool's errand. He cursed under his breath, regretting having allowed the young Captain's words to penetrate his mind so profoundly in the first place. Ordinarily, he was not the sort to be swayed at all, much less by a lesser being such as James T. Kirk. He wanted to strike something, anything, and release the mounting frustrations that threatened to boil over. 

As he was feeling his cap about to burst on his anger limiter, he heard the doors to his prison unit clack open. He approached the force field that was the front of his cell, and peered down the corridor to see who it was that was approaching. He felt the edges of his mouth curl up just subtly as he saw Dr. McCoy heading his way. What could possibly prompt such a visit? He had not made any complaints of a medical variety, so why was a doctor coming to see him? Surely this was not a social call…

The doctor stopped just in front of his cell, asking the guard politely if he could have some privacy to discuss some confidential matters with the prisoner. The guard nodded, casting a suspicious glance at Khan, but leaving the unit. 

Once the guard was out of earshot, McCoy met Khan’s eyes, although he did have to look up to do so. “Khan…”

Khan inclined his head slightly, meeting the doctor’s eyes as well. “Doctor. I must say I am surprised to see you here. I have made no medical complaints, so I can see no reasons why you would be here to see me…..Unlesssssss……” He placed a hand to his chin, a subtle hint of a grin evident on his lips. “Oh I bet it has to do with your Captain, now doesn’t it?” He saw the pain flash in the doctor’s eyes, and knew he had him. “Ah, so it does. What’s the matter, doctor? Your transfusion didn’t quite work out as you had hoped, now did it?” He was clearly demeaning the doctor, and McCoy didn’t miss it. Not for a second. 

“You know somethin’, clearly, that I don’t.” He said dryly. “Now I need that information, and I need it now! Jim’s gonna die without it, and I can’t let that happen! What did I do wrong?!” He felt himself getting mad, but it was not going to serve his purpose to get mad and he knew it. He saw the stubborn look in the Augment’s eye and knew this was going to be difficult. He huffed a sigh. “Look. Whaddya want in return for the information?” 

Khan narrowed his eyes. “What I want, doctor, goes well beyond your pay grade…”

McCoy felt his body tensing. He needed to check himself before he let his temper pop, but he wasn’t good at monitoring himself where his friends and family were concerned. “Above my pay grade?...Listen..I don’ care about that. I’ll find a way! Jim’s like one’a my own. I love the kid! Can’ you respect that? You said you love your crew like family, right? Well, wouldn’t you want me to give you what you needed to save them if I could? All I’m askin’ is that you do that for me…”

Khan pondered over this for a moment before he looked back down at the doctor. “Hmm. Interesting argument. It has potential to be compelling, but no.” He saw the pained look on the doctor’s face. “What I want, doctor, is to be free from this prison, and I want my family back with ME. I doubt you can provide me either of those things…” Khan turned to head back to his cot in the cell, when McCoy spoke up again.

“What….what if I can?”

Khan paused where he was, about half-way to the cot. He turned his head, looking over his shoulder at the doctor. “Elaborate.”

“….What. If….I can?” He saw the look of annoyance, and decided to specify. “I mean get you out of here, that is….I can’t guarantee it, but I may have a connection to getcha into that rehabilitation program…It’s not immediate freedom, but it’s your first step toward it. Sound fair?”

Khan mulled over this one far more intently. His likeliness of getting into that program on his own was kind of iffy, considering the lack of trust the larger majority had in him. If he could get into that program, he could fake his way out of it. That would be a cake walk. He grinned to himself, finding this to be a suitable trade. He turned back around to fully face the doctor, nodding his head just slightly. “Very well. You get me in that program, and I’ll give you what you need to cure your friend.”

McCoy was almost eager enough to just take that on face value and leave. He caught himself just in time, and stood his ground in front of the cell. “How do I know you’ll keep that word, Khan? You’re not exactly known for doin’ that, y’know…” He narrowed his eyes at the man in the cell.

Khan approached the cell front, pointing to the loop at the far right. “Bring that forward, doctor, and draw a vial of my blood. That will be all you will require for your cure.” 

McCoy looked shocked! One vial? No way! Kirk was fully irradiated and dying! There was no way! “How the hell can one vial do the trick?! MUCH less for a guy Kirk’s size?”

Khan sighed slightly. “Because, McCoy, you do not inject the whole blood. You have to synthesize it, and inject the serum derived from it. There is actually a process by which I create my cures. What you did caused your problems to become worse in your patient. Correct me if I’m wrong, but he reacted quite poorly when you did that transfusion of large quantities of my whole blood into his bloodstream, yes?” McCoy’s eyes shifted away, indicating to Khan that he was right. “Precisely. See, that is not easily accepted by your bodies, as it is not designed to handle that. It is something far more potent than your physiology can handle. It, inversely, only served to break down the body’s immunity while boosting its defenses while the blood’s properties remained actively alive in its system. Once the host body has processed it completely, and it is no longer in the body’s system, the effects no longer last to protect the host. Now the former host is left with no immune defenses, and requires another blood boost. To explain it with an example, it is sort of like the principle of vaccinations. You weaken the strain or kill it or it defeats the purpose, only serving to make the person you tried to vaccinate ill.” 

McCoy looked like HE was going to be ill! What had he done?! He didn’t know that he was causing all of that chaos! “If…if that’s the case…will Jim require transfusions of your blood for the rest of his life now?” He felt like his heart was in his throat. This was awful!

“Hmm. Not exactly, no. He may require several boosts of the properly synthesized serum, but that should reset his system, allowing him to survive independent of my blood. Now had YOU been the one in charge of his fate, yes. He would require the transfusion probably bi monthly. I should only have to inject him with the stuff I make once a month for about four months, depending on how well he responds. It’s not often I have to completely rebuild a body’s immune system, you know…much less one that’s been damaged by MY blood…” 

Khan was both amused and mildly put off by this, and it was not missed by the doctor. Of course he felt bad enough about having been at fault for Jim’s currently unstable condition, and he really didn’t need this nutjob making him feel worse about it. He exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair. He looked back at Khan. He pulled a hypo from the bag he carried, and moved the circular specimen cell to the center of the force field. Khan slipped his arm through it, and McCoy drew the sample, placing it and the hypo, back into his bag. Khan retracted his arm, and McCoy closed the sample cell down, sliding it back off to the side. “Alright. I’ll see what I can do about gettin’ you into that program. Don’ you go renegin’ on that deal of ours either!” He turned and left, the guilt hovering thickly over him.


	3. Chapter 3

McCoy found himself, yet again, face to face with the Admiral that knew about his current predicament. He felt himself getting more and more uncomfortable with the dealings of having to be under the microscope with his precious medical notes, but it was part of the deal. The older man was unwavering this time. He demanded access to the medical notes before he was willing to approve anything farther involving the permission for the doctor to have access to Khan. He knew he had to do this, because again, Jim’s life was far more important than his privacy was. Even still, he told himself over and over, this man knew better than to give up the details of his journal to anyone else. This kind of information could easily get out of hand, and that would be a major issue.

 

He tried to relax as he watched the man thumbing through his notes. Once he had completed his scans, he looked up at the medic, his steely gaze firmly affixed to the doctor’s uncomfortable one. “Well now, this is an interesting read indeed, isn’t it?” He drummed his fingers casually on the hand-written notebook as he spoke, allowing his mind to wander over and around the contents within that he had just absorbed. “He slid the chair out from underneath the desk, getting up and heading to the large window behind him. He had his hands clasped behind his back as he looked out over the city view he had. “What is it you need from me, exactly, doctor?”

 

McCoy shifted a little uncomfortably in his seat. This was not going to be the easiest conversation, knowing this stubborn old goat. He straightened himself mentally, and addressed the needs he had straight on. “Well, it’s complicated….see, I need to get Khan into that prisoner rehabilitation program, sir…he…agreed to help me, but he asks that in return I try to get him hooked up with that.” He saw the disapproving look on the Admiral. “I think it’s fair! I mean he’s doin’ us a favor by healin’ one’a Starfleet’s up an’ comin’ young Captains, don’cha think? I mean it ain’t like he’s askin’ for world domination or anything!” He silently cursed himself for letting slip the last part. ‘ _FOOL!_ ’ He thought to himself, ‘ _That’s exactly the kinda think they’re worried about with this guy!’_ He shook his head, hoping this didn’t ruin his shot at making the deal with the Admiral.

 

The Admiral narrowed his eyes, approaching the doctor’s position again, placing his palms down on the table firmly, his eyes locked firmly on McCoy’s. “World domination, Doctor McCoy, is exactly why we are leary about trying the rehabilitation on Mr. Singh in the first place!” He silently and intimidatingly stared down the doctor for a minute. “We fear that with his intellect, he may fake his changes, and when released, simply resume his conquest attempts. It is something that runs deep inside his veins, you see…” He moved toward a shelf, pulling down an old book. He brought it toward the doctor, setting it on the table in front of him. It was clearly worn. “This holds a history of the time, including the reign of Khan and his followers. He was a dangerous and cunning man, doctor. We have to be careful with him, and any program that may grant him release is too great a risk to take.” He slid the book closer to the doctor, his eyes sharpening on him. “I want you to take this book and read through it before you ask me to release this madman.”

 

McCoy gave an almost defeated and helpless look as he looked from the book to the Admiral. “But sir! Jim’s DYING! I don’ have the luxury of time to sit about my room readin’ a history book! I need ta get Khan in my corner so I can get this serum of his for a cure!”

 

The Admiral gave an odd look, and McCoy realized he may have said too much. “Serum of his? So he does have a different method of a cure than you did. And has he agreed to share this with you?”

 

McCoy sighed heavily. “Yeah, he did, but only if I could get him in this program…”

 

The Admiral stood up again, pacing the room once again. He moved to a PADD he had, scanning for several minutes through some files. He turned his attention back to the doctor. “Alright, doctor. I will do some research on some methods I may be able to employ that could make it safer for us to potentially enroll him into the program. I will contact you with my decision, in the meantime, I suggest you read that book, and get your own ducks in a row. Spend a little more time with Khan and see for yourself that you really cannot just trust that tyrant at face value…”

 

McCoy was not pleased with the fact that he did not have a confirmed ‘yes’ as of present, but at least he was going to look into it. That was something to go back to Khan with, and it wasn’t a no….he did need to get the rest of the details on what he had to have prepared to make the serum anyway. After all, he had no idea what was required for this stuff. He picked up the book, and headed for the door.

 

Once he had gotten back to his small apartment, he set the book on his night stand, and plopped himself on the corner of his bed. He sighed deeply, combing a hand through his hair. This was getting stressful, and he knew a thing or two about stress! He lay back on the bed for a few minutes, allowing himself to be taken by the thoughts that flooded his mind as well as the emotions.

 

Finally, having enough of that, he pulled himself from his reclined position, and brought himself to the shower. That always did wonders for an overload of stress. He dragged his feet to the washroom, and turned the shower on, already set to his ideal settings. It hissed alive, cascading water down from the shower head. The room began to fill with steam, and it already began to ease his tension as the thought of the warm water beating down his body began to fill his thoughts. He slipped inside the shower stall, sliding shut the doors. He felt himself melt into the warm, relaxing sensation as the firm rapping of the water began to work out some of the anxiety that was beginning to root into his soul. He stood there, allowing the water to stream down his back, enjoying the feel as the warmth filled his senses. He grabbed a rag and sudsed it up, running the cloth across his body, imagining it scrubbing away all of the events of the day. He stepped back under the jets, allowing the water to remove the suds, enjoying the scent of the soap as it faded away, leaving only a light trace of its odor. He did a similar process with his hair, lathering it with a favored shampoo. He melted into the gentle massage of the water as it ran the soap from his hair, assisting the soothing process with some gentle massaging of his own. He enjoyed the feel of the water a minute longer, before he finally turned off the shower, allowing himself a moment to drip dry. Sliding the doors open, he reached over to the towel bar to retrieve its contents. He dried himself, draping the towel around his shoulders, and moving back into his room. He slipped into some clean undergarments and a pair of night pants, and let himself sink onto his bed again.

 

He lay here for a minute, staring at the ceiling, actually decently calmer than before. Then he rolled over just slightly, switching on the light over his night stand. He then retrieved the worn book that he had set there earlier, turning it over a few times in his hands. _The Eugenics Wars And The History Of The Augment Tyrants_. Sounded like an oh so very interesting read, McCoy thought wryly to himself. He felt himself rolling his eyes, but he gingerly opened the book anyway, careful not to damage the clearly old relic. He began to read the contents of the book, and rapidly found himself becoming engrossed in its contents. It was standard procedure that all school children learned about the Eugenics Wars, and a basic run down of the Augments, in particular of how awful they were. Particularly well-known was Khan Noonien Singh, as he was easily the most powerful of the Augments that existed, controlling approximately one quarter of Earth’s people at the time. Of course, the records of the time were somewhat fragmented, so a lot of the stories were somewhat dependent on who told them, but there were many things that were well-known facts. What was not known, however, was much of the development of these tyrannical monsters. Very little, if any, information was ever really released on their early lives, so it was all up to what happened after they began their rise to power. The impressive thing about the reign Khan had, was the lack of massacres and other heinous events that oftentimes occurred under tyrannical dictatorships. In fact, he recalled that whenever they covered the topic in History classes, quite a few of the students often found that they had somewhat of an admiration for that particular Augment. It was found in distaste now, he thought to himself, considering the terrorist attacks he had launched against the peaceful organization of Starfleet. He continued reading, finding that this highlighted some of the darker aspects of his reign, going more in-depth on some of his darker means of controlling his people. He shuddered as he happened upon a certain passage:

 

_“Khan’s policy had some horrid punishments for many, if not all crimes, he himself citing that he wanted absolute obedience from his subjects, and would accept nothing less. He ruled with a proverbial iron fist, and one that was not afraid to utilize torture and other horrid variations of execution for a convicted criminal who failed learn their lesson after the first warning; first warning often being a painful punishment, usually a variation of torture, severity depending on the crime committed. Inversely, some survivors from his reign defended his policies, stating that he didn’t single out specific groups, so the punishments were fair in the fact that they were the same for everyone in his land, with no exceptions.”_

 

Again, this made him shudder. Did that include the children and the women? How horrible were these executions that they mentioned? His head swam with questions, and his mind conjured many horrible images of people screaming and crying, begging for mercy, as the cruel and sadistic tyrant only smirked at them, telling them they deserved everything they got. It made his skin crawl, and his stomach churn. What sort of deal was he making? Was it really a good idea to potentially free a guy like that again, and in this modern day where the population is completely unaware that these monsters even still existed? Much less with the new advances in technology, and clearly the amount of knowledge and adaptability displayed by Khan alone…Lord knows what would happen if he got hold of his crew too…He read on a little further, seeing another interesting excerpt:

 

“ _Under Khan’s rule, the people felt like they had protection from the horrors of war that were plaguing the rest of the world. Khan and his growing band of Augment followers promised each territory they claimed that they would defend them from any outside attack, be it human or Augment. This softened the blow when they had all of their freedoms stripped from them, the tyrant himself stating that the reasons this must be done was for the good of the people. He convinced them that they were not yet ready for the responsibility that freedom brought, that they used it to turn on their neighbors. He claimed that he would teach them to properly accept one another, and once they were mature enough as a people, they would slowly start earning back their rights and freedoms. He backed his claims, citing the wars over land, resources, religion, and even gender and it was enough to seemingly convince the masses that maybe he was right. He did successfully end the fighting in the middle-east, and unite all of Asia, quite a feat for the time. This helped to convince most of the skeptics, and it quelled a lot of the negativity. For the four years that Khan reigned, he did not have any uprisings of his subjects, and it was partway due to the fact that they seemingly believed that he had their better interests at heart. Nowadays, seeing what he did from an outsider’s view, it is quite apparent that Khan and his followers simply exploited these people, but at the time, they were taken in by the silver-tongued promises and cunning word play this masterful leader used against his weaker minded subjects._ ”

 

Great. So this guy is almost literally the ‘silver-tongued serpent’ from the Good Book that he was told to watch out for every Sunday his whole life. He felt helplessly lost. What should he do? Could he really take that risk just to save ONE life? ‘ _This would really be makin’ a pact with the Devil’_ , he mused to himself. He set the book back on the night stand, switching the light back off. He turned down the covers and climbed in bed, head still abuzz with the new information. He finally decided, the only thing he could do would be to go talk to the monster in person tomorrow morning after he checked on Jim. Hopefully he’d be able to get some more information from him, and maybe even some news from the Admiral that may make his situation easier to bear.

 

The next morning came a little faster than McCoy had wanted, as he heard his alarm squawking him awake. Sometimes that damned thing was like nails on a chalkboard….He groaned and grumbled, turning off the incessant noise that was his alarm. He pulled himself from the comfort of his bed and more or less shuffled half-asleep to his closet to grab a uniform. “Lights….40 percent…” He called groggily. The lights came up and he found himself squinting against them, annoyed at the brightness they gave off. He scowled at them, then went back to rummaging through the closet. He found what he sought, pulling it from the garment bar. He tossed it to his bed, and began to shed his night pants.

 

Once he was pressed and ready for work, he headed out the door, like any other day, locking the door behind him. He stopped on the way, grabbing a cup of coffee. Today was a particularly drag-ass day, he realized, and the caffeine boost may be needed. He sipped on it as he entered the hospital, scanning his ID card on the way in. It registered him, clocking him in with a friendly automated greeting. He mumbled something under his breath about the damn machines replacing human kindness, and a pretty little secretary would be a nicer touch, and made straight for the personnel lift. He selected the floor that Jim’s unit was on, and rode it up. Fortunately, it only stopped twice today, one other person actually getting on with him. ‘ _Thank God for small miracles_ …’ He thought to himself. The doors slid open, allowing him access to the floor he needed. He stepped off, heading for the Unit Desk in the center, greeting the nurse at the desk. “Mornin’. How’s Captain Kirk doin’ this mornin’?”

 

The nurse looked at him with a weak sort of smile, handing him the PADD for the patient in question. “Um. Well, he’s still alive, still not really in top condition, but at least he’s awake intermittently. He started coming around last night sometime around 4 or 5 in the morning.”

 

McCoy looked a little more awake at this, taking the PADD a little too eagerly. “Really? That’s great! Uh…I’m gonna go check on ‘im then. Thanks for the update, nurse.” He raised his coffee cup in the air just slightly, a gesture of approval. He then headed toward the room containing the young Captain.

 

The doors slid open, and Jim was asleep. This was a little disappointing to McCoy, but at least the fact that he was waking up even intermittently was a good thing. That means at least he wasn’t dead. Yet. He shook off that looming dark thought, trying not to think about what Khan had said about the destruction of his body’s immune system. He immediately set his coffee down on a table in the room, and set to work checking Jim’s stats and condition over all. He ran the tricorder across him, allowing it to collect its data. He logged it, and stared down at his friend. He still looked pale and very fragile. It was a bad position for him to be in, but still, at least he was able to wake up now. He only wished he could see this miracle for himself.

 

Now wanting to overstay his welcome, and knowing he had to finish his rounds so he could get down to business with Khan, he turned to head for the door, when he heard the most pitiful thing that ever graced his ears…

 

“Bones….? Is that you?” Jim sounded so weak! It was heart-wrenchingly depressing that this overconfident cocky son of a bitch could sound like this.

 

He looked back at his friend, trying to hide his concerned and pained look. “Yeah, Jim. It’s me. How ya feelin’?”

 

Jim tried to sit up, taking a minute to make contact with his friend’s eyes again, offering him a weak attempt at one of his typical Jim grins. “I’m good! You know, for being trapped in a place like this. So…any cute nurses you could maybe send my way? I think it’d do wonders for my healing process...” He joked, trying to ease the obvious burden on his friend’s shoulders.

 

McCoy heaved a sigh, shoulders sagging at this obvious Jim comment. “No. I’m not sendin’ you any of my people, Jim. You need to focus on keepin’ your ass still for a while, ya hear!” He shot him a concerned parent look, and Jim knew he was not going to give on it.

 

He gave a pout, crossing his arms over his chest. “Aww, c’mon, Bones…just one, pl-”

 

“Absolutely NOT!” Snapped back McCoy. “Look, I’m glad you’re doin’ better, but you really need to take it easy. I’m workin’ on somethin’ to make this better, but for now ya gotta do what I say! Got me?”

 

Jim gave another disapproving pout to annoy his friend, but followed it with a smile and a nod. “Yeah, yeah…I guess so. What is it that I got, anyway?”

 

McCoy fumbled around mentally for a way to describe the situation, but he was at a loss. If he told his friend the truth, that he was going to work with Khan to cure him, he would surely disapprove…”It’s…nothin’ Jim. Just some remnants of what happened on the ship. I got a plan, and I think I got a way to fix this. Jus’ trust me.”

 

Jim looked concerned, but knew better than to try to drag more out of his stubborn friend, and settled for a subtle nod. “Riiight…okay…well, just let me know as soon as you know something more that you _CAN_ tell me, alright?”

 

Bones gave a quick nod. “Will do, Jimmy. Will do. Look, I gotta go, I got more rounds, an’ some preparations for this cure’a yours. I’ll be back to check on you later, alright?”

 

Jim nodded, and with that, McCoy headed out of his room, feeling the weight pressing down on him like ten planets without the fabric of the universe to hold them up. He inhaled sharply, steadying himself, trying to gain control over the mounting stress. He then headed off to finish his rounds, hoping that at least that may be able to provide a decent enough distraction for his mounting wave of thoughts.

 

Finally his last round of the morning drew to a close and he was able to slip out again to pay a visit to the enemy he now had to consider an ally. It was later than he had expected, actually closer to eleven. He made a note to himself that he would have to grab some lunch after he finished with his visitation to Khan. He came up to the guard’s station, flashing his special papers from the Admiral, and the head guy motioned to one of the others. He was, once again, lead down through the maze of units in the prisoner lock-up, and down to the isolation unit. The security codes were entered by the two guards that were there, and he was ushered inside by the one that was leading him. He asked for privacy for confidentiality reasons, and the guard acknowledged the request with suspicion, like usual, but left the ward nonetheless. McCoy approached the solitary cell in the room, standing in front of the force field, wondering if the inhabitant had noticed him come in.

 

Khan was lying on the cot, staring up at the ceiling, seemingly. He didn’t move at first, but spoke a second or so after McCoy approached the cell. “Well hello again, doctor. Have you managed to make the arrangements as per our deal?”

 

‘ _This guy really does sound like an English version of the Devil…_ ’ he thought to himself. “It’s in the works, I’m waiting to hear back from the Admiral I sought the permission from.”

 

Khan wasting no time, responding immediately after the doctor concluded his sentence, and rather irritatedly. “Then why are you here?”

 

McCoy was a little startled by the sudden harshness in the tone the Augment used. He said it was in the works, why was he so clearly disapproving? “…I wanted a little more information from you, actually…” He felt the needles of tension coming from the other when he said this. “When I make this serum, what will I need for-“

 

“When YOU make the serum, doctor?” A low, deep, dark chuckle slipped out for a split second. Now the Augment was sitting up, his eyes fixed on the doctor. “No, doctor. You misunderstand. YOU will not be making it at all. I will…”

 

McCoy looked at him in surprise. It was something completely unexpected! “Wha? What do you mean by that?! You don’ think I can do it or somethin’?” He felt more than insulted by this.

 

“It’s not that at all, doctor. I believe you can, however, I will not allow it. That serum is my secret, and I will not hand it over to ANYone. It is made from my blood, and as you can imagine, I am unwilling to allow anyone to know its secrets.” This was said with a matter-of-fact tone with no room for debate, but McCoy had to try.

 

“Well I can’t jus’ go lettin’ you outta this cage to make it! Ya gotta let me know how to do it! That’s part of the deal!”

 

“No, that is most certainly NOT a part of the deal. My terms are unyielding, doctor. There is no negotiation here. I make it, or it quite simply does not get made, is that clear?” His arctic gaze was boring into the doctor’s, and it was a very uncomfortable feeling.

 

McCoy felt himself almost shiver under the penetrating gaze. He scoffed, seeing no room for this to go any way but the tyrant’s “Tch! Fine! I’ll see what I can do, but you’d better not pull any funny business!” He paced a second, and turned back to the Augment, who was now standing in front of him in the cell. “I get that you’re protective over your formula. I am over my journal that houses some’a my more interestin’ medical observations, like the shit I learned from your blood…I can see where you’re comin’ from. I was afraid to let that out because of what that sort of revolution could do if it ever leaked, so I can only imagine how protective I’d be if it were _MY_ blood that held the key…”

 

Khan gave him a sharp nod, acknowledging that he was correct. “I’m glad you see this my way. Now. The terms still hold. I will not give you what you desire, until my terms have been met. And I do mean all of them.” He gave a disturbing amount of emphasis to the last sentence that made McCoy’s mouth go dry. There were more to his terms than simply getting him into the program….but what were they? He turned a very wary look to the Augment, and was met with a fiendish grin, and he got a feeling in the pit of his gut that whatever these new terms were, they were not going to be good….


	4. Chapter 4

McCoy cleared his throat, straightening his stance. He was certain he didn’t want to know, but he couldn’t resist the ingrained need to know… “All….All of them? Whaddya mean by _ALL_ of them?” He saw the subtle hint of a silent laugh in the motions of the Augment’s chest and shoulders, and felt himself losing more and more his want to know, but again, that incessant curiosity won out! Damn that human weakness! “I see this amuses you, but I’m serious, now…I thought our agreement was that I get you into that program an’ you make that serum in return…why now are there suddenly _MULTIPLE_ terms bein’ implied here?” Yet again he was met with no answer, but this time simply a smug trace of a grin. Now he was starting to get irritated with this little game. “I’m not playin’ around here, Khan! This is my best friend’s _life_ we’re talkin’ about! What terms are you tackin’ onto this deal all of a sudden?” Khan shifted the weight of his stance to his right side, giving the doctor an almost sideways look. Quite clearly sizing him up. This was most definitely going to top the awkward and uncomfortable chart, but it was still not getting the answers he needed! “Now, I told you I care for that kid as if he were my own! Don’ go jerkin’ me around like this, ya hear?! Tell me these terms!” His voice cracked with his obvious frustrations, and it seemed that it hardly fazed the Augment at all, save for a subtle curling of the ends of his lips. This was so typical of this bastard! He was toying with his emotions, and like a damned fool he had bumbled right into the trap! He heaved a sigh, placing a hand over his mouth. He turned to the side, eyes shifting around, up, down, and side to side. He was trying to collect himself, feeling that he was losing his control in the face of this skillful predator.

Khan allowed the doctor his moment to correct himself, still studying him intently, amused at the display. Once the doctor turned his attention back to the cell, looking him in the eye again, he spoke to him, measured, even. “I see you’re sharper than I had initially thought, doctor. It appears you identified my little game…” His tone was definitely tinged with amusement. Oh there was no mistaking that.

McCoy felt himself almost purse his lips, but he caught it before he gave up such a display to his current opponent. “Game? Oh, you must mean the one where you try to throw me off balance and jus’ sit back an’ watch me dig myself a grave…” He saw that smirk threatening to surface on that tyrant’s face again, and he recalled the book he read again…this man was a manipulative son of a bitch, and he’d best be on his toes, lest he find himself caught in another web. “Anyway, these terms? What are they? You an’ I both know I can’t jus’ sit down here playin’ this game with you all day. I’m a doctor, and I got a lotta work to do back at the hospital.”

Khan once again scanned over the doctor, a half smile creeping across his face. “Hmm. Well, that is an unfortunate truth, now isn’t it?” His eyes shifted slowly back up McCoy and locked onto his darker eyes. “I don’t believe now is the time to tell you what these new terms are, but when the opportune moment arises, you’ll know them, doctor. Don’t you worry about that….” He turned and headed back toward his cot, McCoy giving a completely dumbfounded look. What the hell did _that_ mean? Did he even _want_ to know? “Oh, and don’t bother coming back here until you have the first part of our arrangement met, doctor. I will not give up a single iota of my serum or its properties until then.” He casually laid himself back down on the bunk, crossing his arms behind his head. McCoy could hardly believe this just happened! He blinked twice, and shook his head, waving a hand at him dismissively, as he turned to leave. That guy was unreal!

 

*****************************************

 

That unusual meeting with the former tyrant from 300 years past had eaten up some more time, leading right up to McCoy’s designated lunch hour. He had gotten out of the prisoner lock-up and back onto the streets of San Francisco just before noon. He headed to a nearby restaurant, pleased at the fact that he’d actually have the opportunity to have a nice lunch at a nice place, rather than settling for the mediocre stuff that was offered in the hospital café.

As he sat in the restaurant, enjoying the ambiance, he heard his comm device go off. He cursed silently under his breath as he heard the rather obnoxious sound ringing out in the low-key moderate silence of the eating establishment. It felt like all eyes in the building shifted directly to him, glaring daggers at the heathen that dared to interrupt the relaxing vibe of the place with such a ruckus. Of course that was hardly the case, as only a few people really looked to even see where it was coming from, but nevertheless, he fumbled through his coat pocket to find the small device.

Upon finally locating the annoyingly loud little machine, he hunkered down slightly, curling into it, as though this would make him invisible. He flipped open the device, answering it in as low yet audible a voice as he could. “Doctor McCoy here. Who’s”

He was cut off almost immediately by the man on the other line. “Doctor McCoy, this is Admiral Reichter. I have finished doing my digging, and I think I may have come up with a solution that will work for both our benefits. However, I am not at liberty to discuss this over an unsecured line. Meet me in my office in one hour.”

McCoy’s eyes widened. This was just the break he was looking for! He dabbed his mouth with the napkin on his lap, setting it back down on the table. He wanted to just agree right away, but he had his shift to finish. Damn! “Sir, I can’t actually make that…I’m on my lunch now, and in about a half hour I have to return to shift at the hospital. Can I maybe meet you after I get off?”

There was silence for a moment before the Admiral spoke again. “Very well. What time does your shift end?”

“1800, sir.” McCoy was hoping that this would turn out true. Sometimes shifts would run over depending on what happened throughout the day, but he’d do whatever he could to make that work.

“Very well. Meet me as soon as you get off. Come straight here, no delays. I don’t intend on staying here all night.”

“Understood, sir, I’ll do my best.”

“Good. Reichter out.”

Radio silence. But at least this was potentially good news! This could be the leverage he needed to not only get Khan to make this serum, but to also find out what these new terms were. The thought made his skin crawl just a bit. What was it he was planning with the new terms? Hopefully it wasn’t something outlandish like using him as some kind of hostage for an escape attempt…or something painful…

He dismissed the thoughts, returning his attention to his meal. He ate what he had in relative relaxation, not allowing himself to get caught up in the thoughts of Khan what his new terms could be.

He paid for his meal, grinning ear to ear at how much he enjoyed having been able to enjoy it at such a place. He stood on the sidewalk outside, enjoying the nice cool breeze, before he headed down the walkway toward the hospital. It wasn’t a painfully long walk, but it was a nice one nonetheless. He enjoyed the relaxation it brought, as it was such a beautiful day.

He reached the hospital’s grounds, strolling up the path, and through the doors. He scanned himself in again, greeted by the friendly automated system. Again he wished it was a human or something equally social that would be there to greet the employees, but he shrugged off his distaste for the machine, heading toward the location of his office. He took the lift up, patiently waiting for his floor. Once he arrived, he made his way down the long halls, finally reaching the locked door that was his domain. He punched in the code, and the doors slid open, granting him entry. He called up the lights, and seated himself at his desk, turning on the monitor. He unlocked its contents, and began scrolling through his messages and his caseload for the day.

It started off pretty routine for most of the shift, but started to get a little more chaotic by the last hour or two. Patients kept coming in making a fuss left and right, and often wouldn’t settle for any simple answers to their problems. It was an annoying situation for any health professional, when a patient came in that was unyielding to the knowledge of the professional that was trying to help them. Everything was an argument or a debate, and nothing was good enough. Every time he turned around, someone else was complaining about some other fabricated reason why the nurses were not good enough to handle their complaints. It was one of those days. Granted, it was three patients in particular that kept doing this ham it up routine, it was still obnoxious, and it kept slowing down his ability to keep up on the rest of his cases.

Finally he managed to catch up on everything, and he had managed to hand off the cases to the doctor for the next shift. He breathed a sigh of relief, shut down his office and headed back to the lift. He rode it all the way down, patiently waiting for it to reach the bottom floor. Once he reached the ground floor, he exited the lift, and again scanned his card to clock out. It called up the time as “1845” and he felt himself about die. He briskly walked to the end of the entrance of the hospital, and once outside of the actual building, broke out into a run. He pulled out his comm device and called up the Admiral.

“…….” No immediate answer…this wasn’t –

“Admiral Reichter.”

Thank. God! “Admiral! It’s Doctor McCoy. I do apologize for the lateness here, it ain’t exactly like I planned the nutjobs that came in last minute…I’m on my way now, if you’ll still see me...”

“…Do you speak of all your patients that way doctor?” There was a slightly amused ring to his statement that indicated he understood.

McCoy felt himself sigh internally in relief. “Naw, not all of ‘em. Just the ones that really are.” He was grinning as he said this, feeling better about his situation now.

Reichter chuckled at the response. “Come on over. I was just starting to ponder whether or not you’d actually planned on coming by here tonight or not.”

“I’ll be there in a minute, I’m comin’ up on your building now…McCoy out.”

Upon arriving at the Admiral’s office, he stopped at the door, correcting himself before he entered. He knew he looked a bit disheveled from his flustered dash across the premises to the building, and he wanted to at least look somewhat presentable. He tugged at his shirt and his coat, pulling them straight, and ran his fingers through his hair, in an attempt to make it look a little more ordered. He steadied his breathing, and stepped forward, allowing the doors to slide open before him.

When he stepped in the room, he was a little surprised to see not only Admiral Reichter, whom he had been dealing with so far, but also the much older Admiral Archer. He looked a little surprised by this, but again, kept his composure, trying to mask his confusion. Admiral Reichter motioned him inside, having him sit across from them both at the table.

Apparently his confusion was pretty noticeable, because Reichter mentioned it; “You look like you’re absolutely lost by this situation, doctor. Allow me to clarify. This is Admiral Archer. I called him in on this, because I needed a second opinion on the matter. You posed me with quite the predicament, you know…” He gave him an unreadable look, but it wasn’t really threatening, fortunately. “Admiral Archer has suggested a few methods that could be used to control the Augment during rehabilitation as well as aid in the process. We are looking into utilizing one of these methods to make your deal work, but we need to know exactly what it is you agreed to with him. What are the parameters of your arrangement with him, exactly?”

Both of the Admirals were looking at him intently now, and it felt like he was in the principal’s office at school or something like that. He fought the urge to hang his head as though he were ashamed. He reminded himself that this was all for Jim’s sake, and it wasn’t wrong to do what you had to where saving the life of someone you care about was concerned. “Well, sirs, it appears that the deal I made with him includes that I get him into the rehabilitation program, as well as I allow him to be the one to make the serum for Jim. He flat out _refuses_ to give me the secrets to the formula, and honestly, I can’t hardly blame the guy. If it were _me_ , I wouldn’t give it up either, so I can see his point.”

The two Admirals looked at each other in an unusual way, and seemed as though they were discussing this almost wordlessly! It was disturbing and impressive all at once. Finally, Archer turned to speak. “Alright, those are not unreasonable terms. We can work with that, but we have to get him to agree to _our_ terms as well…”

McCoy felt a little bit like this was going down a road he didn’t like. Khan was not the most giving of people, much less when it involved something akin to a bait and switch tactic being used against him. “What…terms, sir?” He asked tentatively. “You forget, I’m the one that’ll have to deal with this psycho! I need ta know what y’all got planned here!”

Archer looked to Reichter, who gave a sharp nod. He turned back to McCoy. “That’s a legitimate point. Our intent is to employ the use of an implanted tracking chip for starters, which will be set in a spot in his neck. Next, he will be outfitted with a micro collar and made from carbon fiber filaments that will be bonded to him, and it will be formatted to his system. There are matching nodules that will be inserted subcutaneously right over the temples, and these are connected to the collar wirelessly, but not to be mistaken, they are integral nevertheless. This system will read his brain function, and will gather required data for a controller that will be assigned to his case. If he shows any signs of hostility or any indication towards potentially dangerous brainwave patterns, they will be corrected immediately, and brought to his attention at once. The collar and nodules also serve a dual purpose, that should he act out, and could not be controlled verbally, he may be given a shock that would be enough to render him inert temporarily. It would provide enough time to transport him to a cell, to effectively punish the unwanted behavior, and send him back through a qualified retraining program. These programs are individually geared toward the need of the subject in question, and the intensity of each program also tailored to the unique level of the criminal. If after a given amount of time we see no improvement, or worst-case scenario, a worsening of the condition, the program will be terminated, and the case closed as non-rehabilitative.”

McCoy felt almost like this was barbaric. This seemed to go against basic rights and freedoms, but then again, this was clearly something that was sanctioned by the infamous shadow group Section 31. It did, however, seem the best route for a guy like Khan. He had no idea the rehabilitation would be so strict, but he had a feeling the addition of the collar and nodules was a special circumstance reserved for the tyrant in particular, as he was particularly dangerous. He nodded, accepting the terms. The hard part would be getting Khan to agree to them as well. “How…am I supposed to convince him that this is worth his time?”

This time Reichter spoke. “Well, he wanted to get into the rehabilitation program, right? This is his ticket in. Besides, if he really is going to allow the process, then the addition of the security measures should be no problem…” He narrowed his eyes just slightly, clearly doubting the resolve the Augment had in actually being rehabilitated. If he wanted to play a game with Starfleet, they were going to make it a hard one indeed.

McCoy sighed, but knew it was true. If Khan meant to get his freedom, these were the terms he had to agree to. The likelihood of an offer of any kind ever coming his way again was nil, and surely such an advanced intelligent being knew that. He’d have to accept this. “Then if he accepts these terms, can I get the permission I need to bring him to the lab so he can make the serum?”

The Admirals looked at each other again, that wordless communication evident again. Clearly these two had some kind of history, with this sort of communication. Reichter spoke: “You may. His controller will be with him when you take him from his cell, unless you want to volunteer yourself for the job during that time?” This was a joke, but much to the surprise of both Admirals, McCoy accepted it.

“I’d prefer that, sir. I somehow think that may be the only way he’ll make the stuff for me. I doubt he’ll allow anyone else near the stuff…”

This seemed like it was a little frowned upon, based on the scowls it received. This time they actually moved away, conversing over the topic for a minute.

“You’re most likely right, given Khan’s egomaniacal personality. However, as a doctor you may find it harder to punish him should he act up. Are you sure you can handle that responsibility?” Reichter said rather sternly. Archer clearly agreed with the question, based on the wary expression he wore as he looked at the doctor.

“I can handle it!” Barked McCoy. “’Besides, I’m only his keeper when we’re gonna be in the lab. It’ll be one’a your cronies otherwise!”

There was a pause, but finally it seemed the two agreed. Archer gave a nod to Reichter, and Reichter in turn handed a paper to McCoy. “Very well. Get him to sign this, stating that he agrees to the terms. We will outfit him with the equipment, and then you may hold his controls, and take him  
to the lab. That, however, is the _ONLY_ place you may take him.” McCoy nodded. “From there we will assign him a controller and begin work on his case. Dismissed.”

McCoy stood from his seat and left the room. He looked over the paper he now held, knowing he had to go back to face the Devil in lock-up.

 

***********************************

 

Khan was laying on his side, facing the wall of his cell. He was nestled under his covers, absently rubbing at his groin. He knew presently there was nobody in the ward he was in, and he was faced away from the camera in his cell. It had been too long since he’d had any decent sexual action, and he felt himself growing frustrated. He was a creature of great need, and in his time as a powerful leader, he had his pick of any woman he wanted in his land. He purred lowly at the memory, always more than content to have a woman share his bed, even though most of the time he only kept them there for the one night. He rarely allowed himself to settle with one, enjoying too much the life of freedom with so many fish in the proverbial sea. Still young and feeling quite sexually adventurous during his reign, he never really wanted to give up the bachelor life until he was a little older, and the thought of an heir was more necessary. He was, after all, only 26 when he and his band of followers were forced to flee. He continued to rub at his growing erection through the fabric of his pants. He was undoing the zipper, when he heard someone approaching. This was more than just a touch annoying, and he felt himself growing angrier with every footfall. _WHO_ would be coming in here after hours, and _WHY_? He was plotting over many ways in which to make his guest feel the most uncomfortable, when he heard that southern drawl, and instead his lips curled into a grin.

“Khan….You awake? I actually got you some news…”

He zipped himself back up stealthily, rolling over and sitting up. He looked toward the doctor, his steely gaze boring into him. “Is that right? And what news is that, doctor?” His response was frigid. Absolutely a Siberian blast of frozen winter. It was potentially good news from the doctor, but potentially would not suffice. He had just unknowingly interrupted a very personal moment, and one that Khan had _NOT_ wanted disturbed.

McCoy almost locked up under the blatant threat that seeped out in between the lines of what Khan had said. It was evident that the in between text read as ‘ _This had better be worth my time, or ELSE_!’ He summoned up the will, and tried to give a synopsis of what had transpired between himself and the Admirals. He motioned to the paper and began to speak. “I…had a meetin’ with the Admirals tonight, and apparently they have agreed to get you into the rehabilitation program…but they have some stipulations of their own…”

Khan got up from the bed and made a brisk pace toward the cell, pointing to the sample cell off to the side. “Let me see that paper. What are these stipulations?”

McCoy complied, sliding the sample cell to the center of the force field and expanding it. He slid the paperwork through it, and Khan pulled it from his hand rather hastily. He read over the terms outlined in the deal, and re-read it again. He did NOT look happy. McCoy wasn’t sure if it was wise or not, but he chanced it anyway. “Everythin’ alright? You’re not lookin’ so thrilled…”

Khan’s icy eyes darted up from the papers to McCoy’s sharp and penetrating, giving off a cold that was almost unbearable. “You _DARE_ turn the tables on me with _THIS_?!” He whacked the paper with the back of his hand, his voice dripping with anger. McCoy felt himself recoil just a bit. “ _WHO’S_ idea was this, because I _KNOW_ you wouldn’t have done this sort of turnabout on me, now _WOULD_ you, doctor?” His words were sharp and his eyes were piercing right into the good doctor’s core. McCoy felt his body betraying him, tensing at the words. There was a force field separating the two men, but the intense threat that loomed in that cell was clear.

“This….was the decision of the Admirals, not me…” He kept his voice level, attempting to calm the clearly livid Augment.

Khan growled and paced in a circle once, turning back to the doctor, his eyes still sharp and penetrating. When he spoke, however, his voice was not quite as harsh, which the doctor was very thankful for. “Not surprising….Fortunately for them, I’m aware that this offer is not likely to come back around, so it appears my hands are tied….I accept the terms…Now. Have you a pen, my good doctor?”

McCoy fumbled in his coat pockets for a moment, finally producing a pen. He slid it in the cell, and Khan took it, a little less hastily this time. He held the doctor’s gaze for a minute more, before he looked back at the paperwork, bracing it against his leg and signing it. He curled the papers with the pen in the middle, and slipped them back through the cell. McCoy took the papers and looked at them quickly, noting the signature. He stifled a sigh of relief, and his eyebrows went up to his hairline, but just by a default reaction. “Well. Thank you, Mr. Singh, I will get these back up to the Admirals, and they’ll get this under way. Once they give me the word, I’ll be back here ta kidnap ya.”

 

Khan grinned, inclining his head slightly. “I’ll await your return with much gusto then, doctor. Good night…” He said this with an odd sort of purr at the end, and McCoy wasn’t quite sure how to take it. It was almost intimidating, but he wasn’t even sure if that was the intent. This guy was hard to figure at times.

 

*******************************************

 

It had been about two days since McCoy had sent the papers back up to the Admirals, and he was starting to get antsy. Jim’s condition was taking another turn for the worst, as it seemed to go back and forth with doing. He was unconscious again, and he felt his heart would just give out from the stress of it if he had to keep watching the kid go through this. He paced the small space that was his office, checking his messages more frequently than was healthy.

Finally he gave a loud sigh of frustration that almost sounded like a growl, and he collapsed into his chair. He sat there, letting his thoughts pool in his mind for a while, until he was disrupted by a pinging sound. He sat up and looked around the room, his eyes finally landing on his main data PADD he kept on his desk. It had a message. He opened it and about leapt from his seat! He grabbed his coat, shut down his office and headed to the door. Finally, Admiral Reichter had messaged him stating that he was in the clear to go ahead with his mission involving Khan.

He exited the hospital, and headed over to the building where he always met the Admiral. There, he was met by one of his secretaries. She handed him this medium sized device, and pointed to a note that was taped to its screen. “This will explain how to operate the Babysitter. Good luck!” She smiled at him warmly, heading back off to her post. He turned the machine over a few times, looking at it. It was fairly small, light-weight and seemed easy enough to operate. He pulled the note from the machine and opened it, browsing through the basic run-down. It was generally pretty self-explanatory, so that made it almost idiot proof. He pocketed the note, heading back out the door.

He made his way down the nice little walk to the prisoner lock-up. He entered the building, seeing a crew at the guard post he’d come to know. They greeted him, the one guard motioning for him to follow. Normally this younger man was silent on the trip to the unit, but not tonight, apparently. “So…it’s not like this guy really gets visitors, so why’d you bother to get permission to see him? You’re here frequently lately, and it just seems sorta odd to me. What’s your connection to him?”

McCoy rolled his eyes, fortunately he was behind the guy, so he didn’t see it. “I don’t have a connection to him, I’m just here on business.”

The guard nodded, turning the corner to the isolation unit that housed his quarry. The two guards posted outside acknowledged the younger guard and entered the codes to open the unit. They cast the same odd look at McCoy as he passed, and the doors slid shut behind them. “Want your privacy again, I presume?” The younger male asked.

McCoy nodded, and the younger guard backed off, exiting the ward, leaving McCoy to stand in the hall, about to release the beast behind the force field.

 

*****************************************

 

It was again, a nice and quiet night. Khan found himself relaxing into a nice little rhythm, thinking over his past flings, including a few tarts he’d picked up in London. He grinned to himself, recalling the scents, the feel, and the details of their every curve. He was rubbing at himself again, his erection pressing painfully against its prison of pants and underwear. He slipped his hand down inside his waistband, eliciting a muffled moan as he made contact with the flesh. Again, he was facing the wall, so as to not be caught. He rubbed and squeezed at himself, licking his lips wantonly as he fingered the head. He removed his hand, unzipping his pants. He pulled himself from the prison, his rock-hard cock springing free like a catapult that had been released. He wrapped his hand around it, pumping it firmly. He knew the detail from the cameras wasn’t that good, especially at night when the lighting was lower. He rubbed it with more and more intensity, occasionally reaching lower to give his balls a squeeze and a tug. He rolled his thumb around the head, teasing the slit, and felt himself shuddering in response. It wasn’t sex, but it would have to do. He was just getting caught up in a nice wave of pleasure when he heard someone approaching again. He growled deeply, cursing under his breath. He heard the steps getting closer, and he forced his throbbing member back into its prison. He winced as it bent against the pressure of his pants, and felt himself becoming ill-intended toward his guest. Again, that drawl met his ears. This time it did not amuse him quite like it had the last time.

“Alright, Khan. I didn’ mean ta wake you, but I doubt you’ve been asleep that long anyway. Look, I made good on my deal, now I was lookin’ for you to do the same for me…D’ya think you could come with me to the lab to make that serum now?” He tried to sound as non-threatening as he could, but his accidental attitude was not missed by the already pissy Augment.

Khan sat up from his bed, tossing the covers from his being. He turned his head toward the smaller male, his eyes dark with anger. “You know, that is the _SECOND_ time you have managed to interrupt my personal time, doctor.” McCoy was shocked to hear that, much less with this kind of clear frustration.

“I..I’m…I didn’ even know you HAD that in here…I will try not to do that again next time, but right now, I really do need your help. Jim’s in a bad way, an’ I really need that serum…” He was stammering over his words, still a little taken aback by this realization.

Khan looked up, almost like he was thinking, maybe debating if he was going to help or not. McCoy had a moment where he felt himself hold his breath, and his heart he could have sworn, stopped beating for a minute. Was Khan really going to go back on their deal? “Hmm…..Alright. I’ll help you.” McCoy felt himself let loose a huge breath, able to breathe again. He moved to the guard house, tapping on the door. He flashed his papers to the guard, showing them the Babysitter device as well. The two guards gave him an odd and almost fearful look, but activated the release switch on Khan’s cell. McCoy stepped back into the ward, the doors closing behind him.

Khan was already out of his cell and it made McCoy’s heart leap into his throat. He switched on the Babysitter control device, and Khan heard the new collar he had respond in kind. His eyes widened for a second, but he resumed his usual icy look almost immediately. “I see you brought with you an insurance policy…How nice.”

McCoy narrowed his eyes for a second, looking the Augment in the eye. “I don’t quite agree with this thing, but that don’t mean I won’t use it if you force my hand!”

Khan chuckled, stepping back a little, displaying his palms in a mock sense of surrender. “Alright. I see your point, doctor. However, I must ask you something, and I need to know the truth.”

McCoy looked at him, his eyes searching him intently for where possibly this would go. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

Once again Khan was right up in front of the doctor, but he didn’t default to using the Babysitter, he just kept his eyes locked on his opponent’s icy blues. “Tell me. Just _what_ are you willing to do to save your _precious_ Captain? How far will you go?”

McCoy looked a little pale “W-what? What’s _that_ supposed to mean? I’d do just about anything within legal means!”

Khan grinned. “Excellent.”

McCoy felt a bad feeling in the pit of his gut. “What? What are you plotting?”

“I simply mean….you have annoyingly interrupted me _twice_ now…I normally would _NEVER_ consider a male in _ANY_ form for _ANY_ reason, but in this circumstance, I suppose it would be fitting that _you_ fix the problem you seem so _adept_ at preventing me from correcting myself…” He saw the dawning of understanding on the doctor’s face and the reluctance forming as well. “…That is, _IF_ you want me to make your serum…”

McCoy went to protest, but he found his eyes scanning over the Augment’s body and face. He couldn’t _believe_ this! Was this guy really actually asking him for some form of a sexual favor?! What the hell?! “…What…exactly…would you have me doin’?” He said sharply.

Khan looked him over and smirked. “Well. I figure you should give me a good oral job considering that’s two sessions you fucked up for me. Do this, and we’ll call it even and I’ll make your serum.”

McCoy thought he was going to be sick. He looked at the man in front of him and felt himself paling again. “You’re jokin’ right? I never been with a male before, and judgin’ by what you said, neither have you! Why made an exception now?”

Khan felt himself growing annoyed, mostly because he knew if he thought too much about it the result may turn him off as well. “Don’t overanalyze this! You owe it to me for botching my personal sessions!”

McCoy looked a little surprised at the anger in the response. He looked at the Augment again, swallowing back the lump in his throat. He couldn’t find any words just yet.

Khan again was growing impatient. “Well? Do you want to save your precious Captain or not?”

McCoy stared at him for a minute, before he growled in his throat and nodded his head. “Alright. Alright, fine! But we speak of this to NO one! Ya hear! NO ONE!”

Khan nodded, leading the doctor to a corner of the ward where the cameras didn’t see. “I fully agree, doctor, as I too have a reputation to uphold.” He unzipped his pants, producing his still erect member. It had softened some, but not much.

McCoy felt that lump in his throat again, looking down at the large organ. “Well damn! Somebody ate all _his_ veggies, I see…” he snarked.

“Just get this over with.” He growled at the doctor, clearly just wanting to get down to business.

McCoy got to his knees slowly, looking up at the Augment reluctantly. He saw the stony look, and sheepishly reached a hand out to stroke the long, thick organ. As his hand wrapped around the thick base, he realized this guy was more than a handful. This was a decent organ, and it would make many guys jealous, his psychological mind was amused mildly with the notions of penis envy for a minute, but he had no luxury of getting side-tracked. He ran his hand up and down the length in a very vanilla fashion.

Khan growled at him after a few minutes of the same. “I was giving you the benefit of the doubt, but now I’m getting annoyed. Do more! Get involved! I know damn well you do it way better when you go about wanking yourself!”

McCoy gave a startled look at the sudden verbal lashing, but he was right. He did do more whenever he handled himself. He acknowledged this, reminding himself it was for Jim’s sake. He began to pump the Augment harder, using his other hand to pull and play with his balls. He teased the head with his thumb, and finally got a note of approval. “Better, much better, now use your mouth.”

McCoy swallowed hard. This was the part he was really dreading. His mind went all over the medical reasons that it was unwise to place such areas of the body in the oral cavity, but again, Jim’s life was on the line. He slowly, reluctantly, parted his lips, touching the tip of his tongue to the Augment’s penis. He slowly began to lick at it, getting some shudders and guttural moans as he did it better. He finally managed to get the tip in his mouth, but as he started getting used to it, he found his gag reflex was weak. Once the large organ reached the back of his throat, he gagged and coughed, pulling himself from the organ. Khan looked displeased. This wouldn’t work. He pumped him a few more times, slowly working the cock back in his mouth. He got it deeper and deeper, fighting back the rejection he was met with by his throat. He did have to pull it back to his oral cavity, but he made up for it with more sucking, and the use of his tongue. He swirled it around the head and under the glans, pulling and dragging along its length with his teeth. He increased his actions, bobbing around his member for what felt like ages, getting such reactions from the larger male that told him he was doing well. Of course, the Augment was clearly adept at hiding some of his reactions, as he kept every noise low and rather quiet so as to not attract attention. His hips did slightly rock, but not enough to cause distress to McCoy, which the doctor was thankful for. He sucked firmly on the head, causing a hiss to escape, pumping the base and shaft up to the point where his mouth could reach. Khan’s dick was too big for him to take it all, especially being as inexperienced in this as he was. He continued this over and over, until finally, he felt the Augment’s body stiffening. His cock began to twitch, and his balls drew up tight, and suddenly the mammoth man spoke to him in a husky voice “I expect you to swallow this…if they find a mess they will have an idea of what happened here…we can’t have that…” He held McCoy’s head there, rutting into his mouth until he finally exploded in orgasm. His seed spilled in a warm rush, flooding McCoy’s oral cavity, as he choked slightly, swallowing it all down as quickly as he could.

When Khan finally pulled himself from McCoy’s mouth, McCoy felt himself retching. He stopped the final product, but the mere thought of what just happened made him sick to no end. Not to mention the texture. Oh that was truly a disgusting encounter, and he’d care to never relive it. He looked Khan up and down. _‘Tch. At least he’s a good lookin’ guy. Could’ve been worse…_ ’ He sarcastically thought to himself.

Khan looked down at him, flushed from the encounter. He put himself away, zipping his pants back up. He reached down, pulling the doctor up from the ground by his upper arm. “Now we are even.” He peered around the corner, looking back to the doctor. “I suppose we should get going before anyone gets suspicious of why we have yet to do so…Lead the way, doctor.”

McCoy looked at the other warily, but stepped around him, leading him out of the ward. Things were certainly off to a very weird start, but at least he was finally willing to help him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Thanks to zeynel for the idea to add Archer to this whole mix. Interesting note, and it sort of gave me something to make Reichter seem like someone legit that actually could have some sort of connections. ;)
> 
> **Also, thank you to all of you who have been following along, and in particular, I know Indigo_WarPhish and zeynel give me lots of feedback which is always welcome and helpful, and ShadowSpark, thanks for following along as well, and the Kudos from those who have given them here and on "Retribution" so far, much obliged! *Bows* This particular story is almost done, but there will be 3 or 4 works in this series, so be patient with me! Thanks again!


	5. Chapter 5

The lab was unsurprisingly pretty quiet. It was after hours, and the bulk of the crew that typically ran the large facility had left a while ago. Once the night crew settled in for the third shift, it ran on a skeleton crew. This was the main reason McCoy chose to bring Khan out here at such an hour. This was the time his presence was most likely to cause the least amount of trouble.

The good doctor gave a look around the large space, spotting a perfect section in a back corner that not a soul was near. He slinked around, trying to bypass any stations that actually had any staff, but was still unable to avoid the looks from some of the members of the team. Many seemed unfamiliar with his face, but it seemed maybe a few had recognized him anyway. Even with the fact that McCoy had attempted to avoid going particularly close to anyone, deliberately trying to skew their view of the man he had in tow, some of the more acutely in tune members still seemed to identify him as the ‘terrorist John Harrison’. He felt himself giving a frustrated internal sigh.

Once the two men reached the back station in the lab, he pointed to a stool, and looked up at the Augment standing just beside him. “If you wouldn’ mind, could you stay here a minute. I gotta go quell some issues I noticed risin’ up over there…”

Khan gave a slight raise of an eyebrow, but simply leaned against a wall, motioning the doctor away dismissively. McCoy felt a little prickly about that snobby manner of response, but brushed it off anyway, glad that he was met with no resistance in the first place.

He made his way back over to the growing huddle of lab techs, announcing his presence with a clapping of his hands together when he got within a few feet of their position. “Well! I see a few of you recognized my guest over there, and perhaps are goin’ about passin’ on the knowledge to your colleagues. That’s just wonderful. However. I am here to tell ya that y’all got nothin’ to worry about, because he’s not gonna do anything foolish. See, I got permission from some Admirals to go about this little mission of mine, not that it’s any of your concern, but I got myself an insurance policy in case he gets outta line, so don’t you worry your pretty little heads over it. Leave the guest of honor to me, and you just keep your minds and your attention on your jobs, okay?” The small group of techs exchanged odd looks amongst one another, and glanced over at the terrorist, who was simply leaning casually against a wall. They then looked back at the doctor, and although still uneasy with the whole thing, the medic did outrank all of them, and if he said he had it under control, the only option they had was to believe him. They nervously accepted this, nodding slowly and in a sort of staggered pattern amongst the group. McCoy gave a nod in response, arms crossed over his chest. “Good. As you were.” He turned and left, returning to where Khan was, still bracing himself casually in the corner.

Once he reached the Augment’s position, he stopped just short of him, looking him up and down. Khan gave him a subtle glance over in response, but not budging from his spot. “Is there something you wanted to say, doctor?”

McCoy narrowed his eyes, clearly annoyed at this casual inquiry. “Damnit man! I told you I need you to make that serum! Not stand here propped against the wall like you ain’t got legs’a your own!” He almost popped him in the arm as he said this, but fortunately stopped himself before he had done so. This was grinding on his already raw nerve. This guy was not taking seriously the situation at hand!

Khan made a look of clearly poor intent when McCoy almost hit him, even though it would have been as an accentuating gesture meant to drive home a point more than it would have been an actually intended threat. Nonetheless, Khan found it a nervy display, and it was not something he readily approved of. He gave a needling glare at McCoy, and the thousands of sharp spears were felt right through to the fiber of the doctor’s being. Khan had not uttered so much as a single syllable and Leonard knew what he was implying all the same; ‘ _If you EVER dare a move like that again, I will snap your ulna and radius like the flimsy twigs they correlate to! You will NOT disrespect me like that!_ ’ McCoy wasn’t certain if that was the exact thought that Khan had or not, but he was very certain he was well within the ballpark, and probably somewhere right within the red clay portion of the field, even. He shuddered at the thought, knowing the large male could more than likely do that very feat with one hand. He was brought from his thoughts when that polar freeze oozed from his voice; “ _How_ , doctor, am I to make a serum, when I quite _clearly_ haven’t any _supplies_?” He motioned one hand to the lab table they were at, and it was devoid of any chemicals upon it, much less the blood sample that would be required.

McCoy’s eyes slid slowly to the table, uncertain if it was really safe or not to leave their fixed position on the dangerous Augment. Finally they settled on the tabletop, scanning across it rapidly and repeatedly. He was right! How foolish of him, of course there were no supplies! They would have all been put away at the end of the shift, it was proper procedure. He turned to run to the supply closet, when he stopped in his tracks. He turned and headed back, looking Khan in the eye again. “What, er, is it that I need to get?”

Khan gave a half grin, pushing the doctor to the side. He lead him over to the cabinet, waiting for him to catch up. Once the doctor was beside him again, he crossed his arms over his chest, looking down at the smaller medic. “You open the cabinet and I will gather the supplies. I already told you, this is my ordeal. You will simply help me carry it.”

Several minutes later, and much pack muling later on McCoy’s part, the duo had all of their supplies at the lab table. Khan set about organizing it in some fashion, setting up little stations as he went. He then began measuring out certain chemicals, and writing out formulas on a notepad McCoy had provided. He was careful to make certain everything he did was on paper, and nothing was done digitally. He needed to have these formulas, because they were based upon the radiation levels and the stats on Jim that was provided by McCoy. He was also given a blood and tissue sample to look at himself from Jim, also courtesy of McCoy.

After doing the basic draft of the overview for the serum’s properties, he pulled up the vial containing the blood sample to check for himself just how bad the levels were. He ran his own tests on the sample, checking it against the proper levels for a healthy human, and the statistics that he normally had based on his Starfleet medical record. He made note of it, and set the sample aside, moving on to the tissue sample. He did a similar process, testing it manually. He was in some fashion, similar to McCoy in the fact that he preferred to see this himself using an older method first. He checked after it last, comparing his result and the computer read-out as a double fail safe.

Once he was satisfied with the findings, he checked over his formulas again, making the necessary corrections according to Jim’s specific criteria. His condition was definitely dire, and his immunity was critically low. That made his need quite different from anything he had cured before, considering he really detested using this method in general. It was a closely guarded secret that he could use his blood in this fashion, and reserved it for certain cases he warranted worth his time. This was an exception, in the fact that like the Harewood girl, it would serve to accomplish a means he was aiming toward. It was a necessary step, so he went ahead with the process. This time, however, it was different. He had a little bird over his shoulder, wanting to watch his process and learn his secrets. It was more than a little frustrating, but again, it was something that meant to serve his end means.

He turned his attention to the doctor now, sighing at having to involve him at all. “Alright, doctor. I need that sample now.”

McCoy looked at him a little strangely, almost as though he’d just grown a second head…one with a saber tooth and some form of tentacles protruding from it in grotesque fashion.

“The sample, doctor! The one you drew from me in the lock-up!” He felt himself getting more frustrated now. How could he forget the key to this Lazarus concoction? He felt his jaw tighten at the thought…

McCoy gave him a sigh, pulling the vial from his pocket. He handed it to him, but it didn’t look that good. Khan gave it a very unusual look. “This is it… something….apparently managed to contaminate it…I got no idea how…We’re gonna have to draw a fresh one…I didn’ know how to bring that up, so…” He gestured to the clear look of annoyance. “Yeah, that’d be the reason why I had my reluctance to tellin’ ya…”

Khan pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing deeply. He steadied his growing temper, attempting to keep his voice a little less threatening. “I. See. Very well then. I suppose it works best with a fresh sample anyway…” He was still clearly ticked, but at least he was being generous about it.

McCoy produced a hypo, and looked to Khan warily. He was met with another sub-zero gaze, but was given an outstretched arm. McCoy took it, pressing the hypo to his skin. The needle shot out, piercing the Augment’s skin and puncturing the vein. The blood rushed into the hub of the needle and flashed right past it and into the vial attached at the end. It filled rather quickly, and McCoy looked to him with a question. “Your new calculations still call for jus’ one vial or do you need multiples?”

Khan looked at the vial, and back at the paper. He gave an inquisitive sound, his face sort of matching it. “Mm….better make that two vials, doctor….best to be safe…”

McCoy nodded subtly, producing a second vial. He detached the first, setting it on the table. He quickly snapped the second tube on the end, and the brick red liquid surged into that containment unit as well. In a matter of seconds, McCoy was detaching the second vial and removing the hypo from Khan’s arm. A small spot of blood pooling at the site of the puncture. McCoy wiped it with an alcohol swab and went to pull a small band-aid when Khan pulled his arm away.

“That will not be necessary, doctor. It will heal just fine.”

McCoy scowled. “I’d prefer it, if you don’t mind. Makes me feel better as a doctor.”

Khan blatantly ignored this, and set about working on his serum. He started off by separating out the blood components, isolating the parts he needed. He then began mixing in the different agents necessary for activating certain reactions within the blood serum, eliciting the desired chemical reactions within the synthesized solution. The whole process took several hours, and McCoy was fascinated by what he could see of it, but he was also not permitted much of it.

Finally, with the finished vials in hand, Khan handed them both to McCoy. He kept an annoying grip on them when McCoy attempted to remove them from his hand. He felt himself growling at the Augment. “What gives?! Gimme the serum, Khan! This was our deal!”

Khan narrowed his eyes. “You need to listen. This is important. Do NOT give him both of these at once. This is to be done a week apart, exactly. I mean to the day. You hear me?”

McCoy looked at him oddly. However, that was not uncommon, even in medicine. He snatched the vials, and Khan released them. “Yeah, I get it. It’s not like those same rules don’ creep up in the pharmaceutical world as well…” He looked at the blood concoction and back at the Augment. “Why does it matter if I give him both at the same time, just for knowledge sake…”

Khan sighed heavily. “Because, if you do that it will shock his system and may simply kill him. This _must_ be done in stages, as you have already almost killed him with that transfusion stunt of yours. Just don’t do it… unless you _want_ to attend a funeral, that is...”

McCoy swallowed hard. That was a scary thought, and it was enough to make him heed the words more closely, not that he hadn’t already intended on doing so. He nodded, placing the vials into his medical kit. “Why do these have to be done a week apart and the others a month apart?”

“Because. This is the initial booster, and it is required to kick-start his body again. It will revitalize him and give him the power he needs to carry over to the next treatment. It will be hardest on him this first round. He may have some highs and lows the first week, but the second boost should carry him much better. You will see with the third the following month much more improvement, and so forth with each following treatment. The end result, theoretically, is that he should not require my blood any longer. I am hoping that my theory is correct and I can treat this permanently in four months. Absolute worst case scenario…..you did permanent damage and he may require, much to my dismay, permanent treatments of this nature…subtle hints of vampirism in a way; but then again, Starfleet is parasitic in my eyes. It is befitting that one of its precious _Captains_ become a sort of ‘Vampire’…humorous, don’t you think?” Khan was clearly amused by this, but not at all was McCoy.

The doctor growled under his breath, turning away from the Augment. “Let’s just get this all cleaned up. I gotta get you back to your damned cell before you turn into a fuckin’ pumpkin…”

 

****************************************

 

 

With Khan safely tucked away in his cell, McCoy made his way back to Kirk’s unit. He was making his way to his room, but found he couldn’t stop a torrent of negative thoughts from swirling about his mind as he approached. What if this was a trick? What if Khan had done something to this serum that would be harmful to Jim? ….Or worse….fatal?

He felt a shiver run down his spine. He recalled all of the events past that reaffirmed the fact that Khan was not someone to be trusted, especially with his very blatant distaste for all things Starfleet. He produced one of the vials he had in his medi-kit, looking at it with uncertainty. He was now stopped right outside of Jim’s door, and looking down at a small tube that may hold the key to his survival….or potentially that of his assured demise. He sighed heavily, shoulders sagging as though the pressure would bring him to the floor. What to do, what to DO?

Finally, after a deep few minutes of silent deliberation, he allowed the doors to slide open, granting him entrance to his friend’s room. He looked at his frail condition, chest rising and falling weakly. He was pale, almost greying in the face. His breath caught in his throat as he felt his heart breaking again. This was not something he could sit back and watch idly. He had done too much and come too far to simply waste what he was holding in his hand.

He motioned himself toward the machine containing the IV bags, and uncapped one of the closed ports. He began inverting the vial of the synthesized serum several times to mix its contents, looking back at the pitiful mess his best friend was. He steadied himself with a few calming breaths. ‘ _Alright, Len. Khan’s got a lot at stake here too….He wouldn’ jeopardize his freedom or that of his crew by dickin’ around with this serum…that would make no sense an’ the guy’s a helluva lot smarter than that…_ ’

Feeling more confident with this reassurance he gave himself, even if just marginally, he inverted the vial for the final time, spearing the stopper on the machine, allowing its vacuum device to extract its contents, infusing it within the IV line. He watched it flowing into Kirk’s veins, and felt a mild wave of panic hit him. ‘ _Oh dear Lord, what have I done_?’ He slumped down in the seat across from Jim’s bed, and prepared to wait out the remainder of the night in his room.

The next morning came rather slowly, as McCoy found the night to be a restless one. He did not find sleep with any ease, as his mind was plagued with the what ifs of what he had just done. Part of him wanted to believe that Khan had enough at stake to not risk messing up the serum, but the other half, damn that devil, countered with the fact that Khan was a terrorist who was hardly capable of such humanity unless he truly found it beneficial to him. He had detected some trickery in the terms the Admirals had set for his admittance to the rehabilitation program, and maybe killing Jim he’d find a worthwhile revenge tactic. The guy was a madman, there was no telling.

After a miniscule lapse of time with McCoy being trapped in this dark and light debacle of contemplation, Jim began to stir awake. Instantly, the doctor leapt to his feet, wanting to draw samples. He had seen the improvement on the monitors, but wanted to check his blood count, in particular that of his white blood cells. This could, after all, be a trick still, or at the very least, be a temporary fix, or something that merely stabilized certain conditions without really treating the true underlying problem that existed, being his now damaged immune system. “Jim! Good! I’m glad ta see you awake! Look, this ain’t your favorite thing to hear, I’m sure, but I need ta draw a sample from you.”

Jim groaned at the doctor groggily. “Aw Damnit Bones! Why didn’t you do that while I was asleep? That’s no way to say good morning…” He pulled the hospital sheets up over his head, trying to ward off the doctor.

McCoy grumped at him, pulling down the covers with a quick yank. “I was tryin’ ta be nice an’ let you sleep, you ungrateful little bastard! Now gimme your arm!” He grabbed the younger Captain’s arm, pulling it toward him and pressing the hypo to his skin. He drew the sample and let the frustrated blond snatch back his arm. “There. Was that so bad?”

Jim scoffed but offered up a grin anyway. “You’re always so grumpy! You need a girlfriend, you know that?”

McCoy rolled his eyes, turning away. “I’m gonna pretend you didn’ say that. Look, I gotta send this to the lab, but I’ll be right back.” He exited the room, and Jim just lay there in the bed, grinning after his friend.

McCoy returned moments later, seating himself on the end of Jim’s bed. He reached over, patting the shin of his friend’s leg. “Well, I put a rush on those labs, so we’ll be hearin’ back anytime within the next hour or so. How ya feelin’ this mornin’ anyway?”

Jim placed his arms crossed behind his head casually, giving a smug look to his white-clad friend. “Good enough to eat something real. Care to bring me back a decent burger or something that’s NOT hospital food?” Again, he was met with a rolling of the eyes. Jim gave a silent chuckle that was visible in the physical manifestation of it in his body. “Well then I’d settle for a good lay. Got any sexy ladies out there you could-“

“NO!” barked McCoy. He didn’t even let the frisky youth finish his request before he shut him down. He heaved a sigh, seeing the look of amusement on the Captain’s face grow infinitely larger. “Fine. I can comply with the burger, but I absolutely REFUSE to assist you with that manwhore status of yours!” He gave him a daddy disappointed look and stood to leave. “I’ll go have some lunch delivered, but JUST this once, you hear me?”

Jim gave an astronomically large grin, settling smugly in his bed. He gave a nod, but a twinkle in his eye gave away the devious plot that screamed ‘ _You say that now…but you know you’ll do it again if I ask nicely_.’ McCoy rolled his eyes with a scoff, but made his way to the phone on the wall. He dialed up one of he and Jim’s favorite delivering barbecue restaurants from their Academy days, and sat back down after placing the order. Jim was still grinning ear to ear, and McCoy just popped him in the arm playfully. “Don’ you gimme that look, trouble! I’m not gonna fall for your baby blues puppy eyes routine every time, y’know…”

Jim laughed, and from there the two exchanged a friendly banter until their food arrived. McCoy tipped the kid that delivered it, having already paid for the meals when he ordered it. The delivery guy left, and the doctor handed Jim his burger and side salad.

Jim saw the salad and gave a slightly displeased look at his friend. “Salad, bones? Where’s the fries?”

McCoy looked at him for a second, before returning to his own meal of a pulled pork sandwich and a salad. “Fries’ll kill ya, Jim. Be lucky you got this burger in the first place. That’s bad enough for ya. Gotta have at least somethin’ in this meal that’s good for your already weakened body.”

Jim scowled, but knew that the medic was simply looking out for his well-being. He could be overprotective, but it was always with his best interests in mind. He accepted it, and ate his meal in peace. At least he got him Ranch dressing. That made the salad better.

The two enjoyed their meals, laughing about their academy days, and the stupid stuff they had done, particularly from the nights when they were drunk.

“Hah! Yeah, remember the night when we got drunk at that Irish pub and on the way back we got caught in that downpour? By the time we got back, you could practically tell where every muscle was on our bodies through the fabric, they clung so tight to us!” Cackled Jim.

McCoy chuckled too, recalling that night. “Yeah, I remember that! You were so bad off you kept trippin over your own two feet on the way back! In fact, that was the same night you climbed into my bed an’ tol’ me that you bet I would be awesome in bed because I was always so grumpy….I still fail ta see that correlation, and I ain’t grumpy!”

Jim laughed, remembering just vaguely having said any of that. “I kinda recall that, but I bet it’s true though. Grumpy people tend to have all that energy they need to expend, so I bet it’s all rough and-“

“ALRIGHT, that’s enough analyzin’ my sexual habits, there junior. You’ll never know, so let that sleeping dog lie.”

Jim grinned again, settling against his pillows. “Yeah, but seriously though. We did get ourselves in trouble with that a few times…the pub crawls…”

McCoy snorted. “I dunno where you get the ‘ _we_ ’ in that. _I_ never got in trouble with it. _YOU_ did, and _you_ dragged me into it with you…doesn’t really count as _ME_ having been the one to get into the trouble in the _first_ place in my book…”

Jim made a disapproving face, but he was sort of right. He was the one that got into the trouble, McCoy was usually just guilty by association, or because Jim needed the help. Generally, the doctor was just the one left to clean up the mess, or to try to calm down the angry crowd to get Kirk freed from the pummeling he landed himself in.

Suddenly McCoy’s PADD chirped, and he pulled it off of the side table he had set it on. He looked over it, and found the memo that had come in. It was from the lab. He could hardly believe it, but Jim’s condition was, indeed, stabilizing! He felt his breath catch, but this time in a good way.

As the week had come up and finally passed since the first infusion of the serum, McCoy had seen exactly what Khan had told him. There were definite peaks and valleys in Kirk’s condition. He was doing great and on top of the world for the first half of the week, then he started a downward descent. McCoy had seriously debated giving him the second infusion early, seeing as his condition looked like it could plummet off of a cliff at any moment. The warning and threat of death that Khan issued to the doctor buzzed in his mind every time the thought entered his mind though. It was hard to watch, but he had to, he reminded himself. It was necessary, as per the instructions from the manufacturer of the serum.

The time had come and he was able to give him the second booster, and the improvement was remarkable. It was almost instantaneous! In a matter of minutes, Kirk’s stats had risen to a normal level, and he was back to acting like his old self! This time, McCoy kept tabs on him very closely, but the effects lasted much longer. His cocky overconfident friend remained his usual pain in the ass self for the remainder of the month that the dose was supposed to last, the effects tapering down noticeably about a week toward the end. He was weaker at this point, but not a complete wreck. He was susceptible to disease again, so the precautions set on visitations were strict, but not forbidden as they had been. Spock had been in, as had Scotty, Chekov, Sulu, and Uhura. This was probably the nicest thing for Jim, as it seemed to really brighten his days when they were allowed their visitations. It renewed his spirits and fighting drive. They were not allowed to stay long, and they had to be decontaminated, and wear protective masks, but otherwise, they were allowed to stop by and spend some time with their Captain and friend, Jim Kirk.

Now, however, it was time to give the second month’s dose. McCoy repeated his process with Khan, a little more smoothly than he had before. This was something that they seemed to be getting used to, although the tension with the idea of having someone over shoulder still seemed evident with the Augment.

Again and again, this was done, until what should have been the last treatment. Kirk was released from the hospital, and they were prepping the Enterprise and her crew for her first big mission. Everyone was excited, and the young Captain was on the Bridge, preparing everything, and going over the final checklists of everything with Mr. Scott and Commander Spock. Kirk thought about the hospital and the sort of condition he was in, and gave an odd look to Spock. “Hey, Commander…” He started, clearly about to pose a question that was deeply plaguing him. “What….I mean is, do you have any idea what it was Bones did to cure me? He never told me?” He paused, still looking like he was lost in thought. “I…got a sneaking suspicion it wasn’t exactly kosher…”

Spock tilted his head slightly, his eyes giving away his inquisitive thoughts as well. “You know what, Captain…I am quite uncertain what methodology the doctor used, to be perfectly honest…”

The two stood there, contemplating the possibilities briefly, before the good doctor just happened to crop up. The turbolift doors slid open, and the medic stepped onto the bridge to be met by the Vulcan and the Captain both giving him inquisitive and almost accusatory looks. “An’ just what in the name of all that’s Holy are you two contemplatin’ over here?” He looked at the two of them and placed a hand on his hip. “What gives? You two accusin’ me of somethin’ already?”

Spock clasped his hands behind his back, standing straight and proud, his voice cool as a spring stream. “Negative doctor, merely making educated assumptions on your methodology for healing Captain Kirk is all. How did you manage such a task, if I may inquire?” He tilted his head just slightly as he finished his query.

“Yeah, Bones. How DID you manage that? Because I’m willing to bet it’s probably got something to do with something sly and back alley dealings-like…” Jim said, crossing his arms, casting an I caught you look.

McCoy growled under his breath about them being meddlesome, but realized this was not going to be a topic they just let go. “Look. You two would never approve what I did, but I did what I had to, alright? Can’t we just leave it at that?”

Neither one accepted this. They exchanged a glance before both said flatly in unison “No.”

McCoy grunted in dissatisfaction but acknowledged he was not getting out of it. He sighed and folded his arms across his chest. “Alright. I did seek help, but I did it properly….” He saw the more inquisitive looks on his two companions’ faces and continued as Kirk clearly made a hand gesture to do so. “It…was Khan. He…I…I contacted Admirals Reichter and Archer and asked for their permission before I did this, mind you!” He saw the disturbed looks of disapproval already, and a particularly uncomfortable shift from Kirk. “Look, apparently, according to Khan I fucked up the whole thing of transfusin’ his blood into you, Jim…He said there’s a process he uses called synthesis that produces this serum made from his blood that actually triggers the healing reactions in the body of the host it’s infused into. He agreed to make it for me, in order to save your life….apparently what I did could’ve killed you…it…damaged your body’s immune system by punching it up way too much, and then left it overshot and broken down, so once the blood ran its course in your body and was no longer there, you were left vulnerable and defenseless. He cooked up this serum for me…well you…to boost you back up. His stuff actually works a lot quicker, more efficiently, with way less, and doesn’t have any adverse effects on your body, unlike what the transfusion did to you. Seems more like what I did you should be thanking me for, and considerin’ the shit I had to do and put up with to get the guy to make it for ya, if _ANYTHING_ , you owe me!”

Jim looked very unhappy with this, but knew his friend was only doing what he thought he had to in order to save his life. He heaved a heavy sigh, turning around to face away for a minute. He tried to calm his growing emotional reaction to the situation. He had a particular reaction to the fact of Khan being the one to, yet again, save his life. He looked at his hands, pumping a fist a few times. He could see where his veins raised up through the skin and it made him a little ill. Yet again, he had more of Khan’s blood surging through his veins, and it creeped him out. Last time it seemed that he somehow managed to gain a sort of insider’s peek into Khan’s mind…his memories…maybe that would happen again. Or would it be different this time because this was the synthesized serum that Khan had made himself? He wasn’t really sure he wanted to know, but he would soon enough find out, of that he was certain.

He turned back to face his friend, trying to offer up a smile. “I do appreciate you saving my skin again, Bones, I do, but Khan…he could’ve killed you….”

McCoy huffed a sigh. “Nah. Not with the deal _we_ had…” He saw the confused look from both Jim and Spock. “…I…got him in the rehab program in exchange for him helpin’ me with the serum…an’ lemme tell ya somethin’ Jim, I had ta give that damn monster a fuckin’ blowjob for him to make this too, so don’t you go squanderin’ this gift!” He eyed Jim up and down, and felt a slight blush creeping into his cheeks, and tried to fight it back.

Both Jim and Spock were shocked at this, but Jim showed it in particular. Spock showed it in the head tilt and the strange look in his eyes, but Jim’s jaw hung agape. “You… _what_?!” He was completely stunned. “Oh for _real_ , Bones?! That’s hardly fair at _all_! How many times did _I_ try to get you with me at the academy and you turned me down _every_ time and you go and suck off a guy like _Khan_?! _Really_?! Oh, Bones, that’s _such_ a Benedict Arnold maneuver it ain’t even _funny_!” He threw his arms up in the air and turned away, genuinely shocked and distressed by this.

McCoy felt bad about it, but moreso annoyed by the reaction Jim had. “Now look’ere, kid! I didn’t go doin’ that for fun! I did that to save your LIFE! I didn’t want to, and I _damn_ sure didn’t enjoy it! And I got a sneaking suspicion he didn’t either!” He looked his friend up and down, seeing him calming back down. “You two are sworn to secrecy on this too. Khan and I agreed not to speak of it to anyone, so naturally you two can’t go firin’ off your traps. Got it?” Both nodded. “Good. So why’s this such a major ordeal anyway? Why’d you wanna know so damn badly how I saved ya?”

Jim returned the eyeing up and down, and gave a half smile. “I figured you went some less than kosher route with it, I just wanted to know how badly off the beaten path you strayed. I got a good friend here, don’t I, doc?” He pulled the grumpy doctor into him with an arm around his neck.

McCoy gave a low groan and accepted it. “Yeah, I’m supposin’ so considerin’ all I went through to save you…” He shoved the younger away and gave him a McCoy sassy grin. “I’m gonna head back to my sick bay to make sure everything’s all good before we shove off. You behave, Jim…” He eyed the reckless youth again, shooting a glance at Spock too before exiting the Bridge.

Jim grinned at Spock, clapping him on the shoulder and returning to his checklist. “Well, guess we better finish our checklists as well, we pull out tomorrow, and it’s off to the stars for our grandest mission ever! Five years exploring the stars!”

Spock nodded, accepting the excitement evident in his young Captain’s voice. “Indeed, sir. It should prove most fascinating.”

 

To be continued! (See next story when it comes out as the third installment of this series!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***A/N: This is the conclusion for "Synthesis", but there WILL be another story following this one, so keep an eye out for it! It will be back to focusing around Kirk and Khan, but will still inevitably feature a good chunk of McCoy! Thanks for following along so far! Let me know what you think, or if you have any suggestions!  
> -a_a8


End file.
